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Activism Director and and Co-producer of CounterSpinPeter Hart is the activism director at FAIR. He writes for FAIR's magazine Extra! and is also a co-host and producer of FAIR's syndicated radio show CounterSpin. He is the author of The Oh Really? Factor: Unspinning Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly (Seven Stories Press, 2003). Hart has been interviewed by a number of media outlets, including NBC Nightly News, Fox News Channel's O'Reilly Factor, the Los Angeles Times, Newsday and the Associated Press. He has also appeared on Showtime and in the movie Outfoxed. Follow Peter on Twitter at @peterfhart.

How predictable to hear criticism of Chavez mental state ,from people who believe that the voice of Chavez’ supporters,should be eternally denied,as the aspirations of his supporters do not coincide with those of an unelected business elite.The fact is that the success of Chavez has been won by meeting real human needs,whilst by contrast Wall Street booms as Main Street suffers.

The corporate media in the us hate chavez. Why? Because he has proved that you can take from the rich and give it to poor. Socailism is not oppressive. The rich still stay rich, theyre just made to pay their fair share. What socialism does is eliminate the greed factor. .

Chavez is harboring anti-Colombian, anti-death squad thugs in his neighboring country? Don’t know, but hope so. Chavez is a friend of the people, a disciple of liberation theology. The Colombian thugocracy allows anti-union death squads to extort the nation at will. Chavez is a function of the democratic process, pro-worker and a champion of egalitarianism. We should have a
fair trade agreement with Venezuela but our Capitalist-in-Chief won’t hear of it. Goddess bless Chavez…god damn Columbia.

Sorry guys, don’t demonize and don’t romanticize. Would we accept no term limits? Venezuelans I talk to, and most university students are in opposition to Chavez’s policies. He has a new militia because he can’t even trust his military. He blames his old allies and banishes them for his mistakes = scapegoating. Even with oil, there’s much more crime and as much poverty as before. If you want to see the buffoon side, and Hugo chide a Guardian reporter, watch: http://www.pbs.org/frontline/thehugochvezshow. Don’t bitch. Just watch. if trying to make two wrongs into a right were outlawed, most political conversations would cease immediately. Do we support Ahmadinejad because he’s a socialist, and the students there are bourgeois imperialist stooges? Get real! Nothing is simple in this world.

There is a lot about Hugo Chavez in the main stream media and documentaries.
The point is that when he makes a mistake everyone hears about it … amplified.
Even when he does nothing wrong, or does someting right, all we hear is the bad,
and in many cases lies.

The coup in Venezuela in which Chavez was deposed and then put back in place
was from popular support. The documentary South Of The Border and The Revolution
will not be televised both cover Chavez and his story.

Anyone is his position is going to have trouble, there is not textbook on how to
survive against CIA attrocities and American imperialism, where we do have lots
of experience playing dirty tricks on the democratic leaders of other countries and
their people.

I wish the best for Chavez, and if he is not long in this life I hope he can put in place
someone at least as good for Venezuela as he is. Here is a guy who grew up in a
hut basically and has tried to do the best he can for the people of his country.

It’s very easy to name call particularly when that is all you do. Chavez has survived
a long time, and I would not be surprised is dirty tricks gave him cancer. The stupid
joke about him having to go to a Cuban Hospital just add to the disinformation.

I support autonomy in the world and also I support autonomy and democracy for
Americans, government by of and for the people. At least Chavez tries – he earns
a days pay for his efforts.

Of course Chavez chides a Guardian reporter. Anyone who has illusions that the Guardian is a liberal, balanced newspaper is naive. Just read The Media Lens (http://www.medialens.org/), FAIR’s counterpart in the UK. The so-called “liberal” papers, The Independent and the Guardian are as bad as the New York Times. They support wars of aggression and generally act as propaganda organs of the government, as does the state controlled BBC. They have a tiny handful of good reporters to create the illusion of balance, but these are sidelined and never criticize their own employers (they would be out of a job otherwise). The rest are hacks.

Chavez is not perfect. He is human being, but compared to warmongers like Obama and the PR product Cameron, who got his country into a murderous war in Africa quicker even than Blair would have, and allows the banks to rob the country blind, he is as good as world leaders come.

Name a better one– Obama, the “peace laureate”, who has as much conscience as any dictator?

Okay, April. Can do, and have done. But there is an almost comical over-reaction to Chavez’ rule here by our sycophant journalist class. And if Chavez’ head were to accidentally get in the way of a nine-millimeter bullet fired by one of our Super-hero assassins, the cheer would go up all over the Beltway from our establishment stenographers. And, he can’t trust his own military? Really? Who would have imagined that? I’m sure they’re down with democratic rule, just like him.

When your right, no one remembers. When you are wrong no one forgets. This is the way the parasitic, brain-washed media in the USA reports on Chavez. If he keeps getting elected by the Venezuelans, why does the US think they should institute term limits? How many times was FDR elected? As to allowing another nation breathing room, remember the CIA and FBI attempted to kill Castro more than 600 times. They also carried out terrorists attacks from killing of civilians to introducing bacterological agents to burning cane sugar plantations. Chemical Biological Warfare a war crime if there ever was one, dengue fever.They also tried to kill the tobacco that is the pride of Cuba, their premiumn cigar tobacco. Me gods, if the Russians had acted in this way, Hollywood would be issuing monthly movies about how evil the Russians were or are. History will show how we became the Fourth Reich. Venezuela is the new Cuba, as long as it’s against Chavez, any crime is allowed. Venezuela has given up reporting on attempts against Chavez, so many are there.

And never forget, Venezuela supports a nation-wide program for disadvantaged youth that has produced one absolutely incredible, truly genuinely remarkable Simon Bolivar Youth symphony Orchestra. It is a greatly admired model for the nations of the world and predates the Chavez presidency by decades. The ongoing success of just this alone precisely, definitively speaks volumes for the country, its culture, its leadership, its values, and, has also sent the conductor to the US, Gustavo Dudamel, a brilliant dynamo, who is the new , very young, present conductor of the LA Philharmonic.

It’s plain and simple. Hugo Chavez is a leader that really, truly, cares for his people. So many of Venezuela’s citizens are alive and healthy because of him. We the U.S. public get nothing but lies when it comes to a country or leader we cannot control or corrupt. The American “Lap-Dog” media is just a tool used (very effectively I might add), by certain politicians to get whatever it is the U.S. thinks is for the taking regardless of international law to just plain human decency. So many past “agents” have come out of the cold to inform us of the reality of what was expected of them and their stories are too similar to think they are just angry or disgruntled. One person explained how it was his job to convince other prominant Venezuelans to launch a coup against Mr. Chavez with the promise of more of whatever it is that will make them commit treason, whether it is money, power, status or security. A Documentary concerning an attempted coup won high praise from critics because of its accuracy and boldness. Hugo Chavez was elected by the people for the people, period. He is NOT the monster certain U.S. officials have painted him. He is a man that has the courage and fortitude to stand up against the U.S. and our addiction to oil. We want to take Venezuela’s oil by force like we are doing in Iraq and that’s all there is top it.

What’s the matter with Hugo? He thought Bush was the devil and a dick just because BushCo badmouthed him all the time and was involved in a coup against him.

Hugo offered up some good words about Obama when he was elected POTUS. Extends an olive branch and Obama slaps him with it. Obama doesn’t have that stinky sulphur smell like Bush – yet! But he’s still a dick!

Yet Hugo still gives cheap and sometimes free oil to the poor Americans while our great oil companies said “screw them.”

Talk of “unlimited terms” (as the head of a country) and how it shows Chavez is not entirely a friend of democracy…it always makes me laugh.
As a British citizen, Head of state an unelected Monarch, with Prime Ministers elected with UNLIMITED TERMS in office allowed…I’d love to have as much democracy here as in Venezuela!
I don’t comprehend how limiting terms HELPS democracy? Surely to say people CAN’T elect someone actually hinders democracy?
The only reason to limit terms is to try and limit the damage any President can do…but if that’s the situation you’re in…you don’t need limited terms…you need a functioning democracy!

What the leaders of our nation do not want Americans to know is that Hugo Chavez and other progressive leaders in the South American nations that Chavez and company are fighting to end centuries of pillage of a continent. This pillage has been lead by the West and specifically the United States to its own corporate ends. To this end I urge all to read and heed WAR IS A RACKET, from Smedley D. Butler, late Brigadier General USMC. And connected to this is GAZA Symbol of Resistance, edited by Joynce Chediac. Gaza and the Palestinina plight that Israel, with the backing of the United States is attempting to stifly through genociidal actions against the people of GAZA et al by denying evne humanitarian, real humanitarian aid to enter GAZA. The actions of Israel and the United States are criminal in nature, criminal in action, and criminal in deception that the Palestinians are terrorists, when it can be shown that Israel and the US of A are telling lies and deceiving to cover-up their murderous onslaught against the people of Palestine and Gaza, to take over all of Palestine and have it all for one.

Ever wonder why a country as energy rich as Venezuela wants to build a nuclear reactor? I mean — aside from the weapons-grade plutonium it would produce? Which will only serve to make Venezuela Latin America’s “Iran West” for the highly ethical US MSM?

It’s to spread cancer, of course. Hugo Chavez — at Fidel Castro’s side — goes to Cuba to throw out the first tumor at a baseball game and it’s suddenly a big international incident. Of course, the American press is onto him at every step. To wit: in addition to having a go at Cuba’s state-of-the-art cancer treatment technology, Chavez eventually plans to ship plutonium to Cuba. That’s on top of Hugo’s standing policy of selling oil to the Castro regime below market prices.

All that remains now for the Venezuelan Atomic Energy Commission is to organize the processing of cardboard and cement blocks so they’ll glow in the dark. There are still masses of Venezuelans living in landfills who haven’t yet been given a chance to move into the decent housing Chavez is putting up for his country’s long-suffering poor.

This will undoubtedly save decent Venezuelans — who actually pay for electricity — a fortune on their monthly bills. And pirating of current by landfill squats will become a thing of the past. The Venezuelan AEC is also working on glow-in-the-dark food and water that’ll replace the contributions made by orgs. like Christian Children’s Fund and Plumbers Without Borders — which only serve to extend the illegal use of landfills.

Of course, all of this will change when Chavez kicks the bucket. Which is just what Venezuela’s upper crust prays for every day. Then, Venezuela can join the US as the newest members of the Third World.

And the only truth about how bad things are in these countries will be spread by wealthy college students belonging to the country’s elite. I.E., the obnoxious offspring of those who suppress the underlying 98% and can’t wait to tell students at foreign universities how rotten the people who want to change the system really are. And how great it is to be King of the Hill.

Good ol Hugo.A man of the people.Surfing the pink tide .He is an unapologetic socialist, holding hands with Cuba’s unapologetic communists.Kissing cousins.As different from a free market capitalistic country like the United states as one would hope to see.He could never accept our system because just like with Castro…..it would throw them down.Rulers and freedom are like oil and water.and save that free election crap.Hitler was elected as a socialist leader too At the top of any socialist or communist system is a ruler. They usually don’t leave in four years, or even eight like we evil types in the good ol uSA. And of course we can not accept their system because………….. well WE ARE NOT STUPID!
All you little socialists….I do hope the embargo on Cuba goes down so you can go there and enjoy their pristine beaches and drive a real 1954 Buick.The girls are lovely ,music amazing,food fantastic and the government…well the government is a 1954 Buick!Hugo has plenty of oil money to pad his way.Lets not make him a saint.

Reading though most of the comments here make me want to throw up a little in my mouth. How much blind admiration for a man who clearly is a dictator. Holy Smokes, the ignorance is nauseating!

Is this how the Left fawned over dictators like Stalin and Castro? Sickening. You people need to be educated. Go to Human Rights Watch and read their reports and studies on Venezuela. This guy is worse that Bush, yet people bash on Bush more? It’s hypocrisy at it’s finest!

No, BlameThe1st, this is how the US government fawned over dictators like Mubarak, Pahlevi, Suharto, Pinochet, Saddam Hussein, and many more. Their opponents weren’t “prosecuted” — they disappeared. Opposition newspapers weren’t prosecuted — they were blown up.

Or how about the US, where dissidents are put in solitary confinement for eight months, stripped of their clothing, and kept away from international human rights groups?

The students April talked about, if they’re in the US, are probably from well-to-do families that flourished under the actual dictatorship that preceded Chavez. (Poor people rarely get to study overseas, especially in the US which is very expensive. International student programs are a cash cow for US universities.) While they may have genuine grievances, they’re likely to be founts of inaccurate information based on their class bias, if not supporters of the 2002 coup. The genuine grievances of the poor seldom get heard in the US, and certainly not by April. As for “term limits,” they’re anti-democratic in function and intention. Maybe April doesn’t know that term limits for the US President are a fairly recent development, a move by Republicans to prevent another Roosevelt.

The left can and does criticize Chavez, but we also recognize that we’re not seeing official criticism of him because of US concern about human rights or democracy. (It tells me a lot about you, BlameThe1st, that you favor another coup against Chavez, and are open that the US should control it. How very democratic of you. Your concern for the freedom of all people dazzles me.) When the left does criticize Chavez, our criticisms will be seized on by corporate media as one more club to undermine democracy in Venezuela.

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Love the Chavez bots who have no problem with Chavez’s death squads complaining about Columbia’s death squads. He appointed himself president for life not that his ass-kissing drones will care. Chavez stopped the fascist coups in Bolivia? Then why does he support Evo Morales who has tried to arrest people for treason for daring to criticize his marxist ways?